20110122

The first azalea

During my university days, I had mixed feelings about the blossoming of the azaleas on campus. While the thriving of the beautiful flowers in March signalled the end of the cold winter season, it also heralded the coming of the final examinations. There was therefore a consensus among students that when the azaleas blossomed, it was time to do some serious study.

If this is still pretty much the tradition of university students these days, they had better beware that they are not misled by this signal from Mother Nature, as it appears that flowers are blossoming earlier. It is still just January, but already I have seen the budding of the first azaleas. Apparently, global warming has slowly but surely affected the seasonal changes, which in turn has altered the pace of biological growth.

This cold winter may have given people a good reason to challenge or deny global warming, but the early blossoming of flowers is a subtle signal not to be overlooked.